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Executive Committee approves $325 travel expense, approves draft Oct. 29 agenda; NEA federal allocations under review
Summary
The Executive Committee unanimously approved $325 to cover part of Executive Director Michael J. Bobbitt’s travel costs and unanimously approved the Oct. 29 Council meeting agenda. CFO Catherine Cheng-Anderson reported that three organizations raised concerns about accepting NEA federal funds; staff discussed reallocating up to $165,000 if funds are declined.
At its Oct. 22 meeting, the Massachusetts Cultural Council Executive Committee took a set of procedural votes and reviewed business-operations items.
Catherine Cheng-Anderson, Chief Financial Officer, told the Committee that the agency had planned to allocate $55,000 each in National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) federal funds to the Museum of Fine Arts, the Institute of Contemporary Art and the Sterling & Francine Clark Art Institute. "Each organization notified us about concerns about accepting federal funding from the current administration," Cheng-Anderson said. She described the agency’s historical practice of administratively assigning larger federal awards to organizations capable of meeting compliance requirements and said that unaccepted funds could be reassigned to other eligible organizations or covered with state funding; the total discussed for potential reallocation was $165,000.
The Committee considered a $325 travel request to cover remaining costs for Executive Director Michael J. Bobbitt’s participation in the Capacity Interactive Bootcamp. Ché Anderson moved to approve the travel expense, Cecil Barron Jensen seconded, and by roll call (Iván Espinoza-Madrigal absent) the Committee unanimously resolved to approve $325 to cover the expense.
Members also debated whether routine small travel expenditures should be reviewed at each meeting and discussed options for setting an annual or per-trip threshold. The Committee agreed to present the travel policy as an open discussion item at the full Council meeting on Oct. 29 (item 7B) and left the existing policy unchanged for now.
Finally, Marc Carroll asked for a motion to approve the draft agenda for the 167th Meeting of the Massachusetts Cultural Council on Oct. 29 (as amended). Cecil Barron Jensen moved, Julie Wake seconded, and by roll call (Iván Espinoza-Madrigal absent) the Committee unanimously approved the draft agenda. The Committee adjourned at 11:54 a.m.
